Insights, Strategy & the Idea
Last year, Microsoft came to us with one of marketing’s most difficult tasks: to challenge Google’s dominance. With 96% awareness, 95% favourability and 94% search user share, Google is synonymous with search. To put Bing on the map, we needed to create something truly exceptional.

Bing is an intuitive ‘decision engine’, that completely challenges traditional search behaviour. To get people using it, we needed to do the same in media.

Insights showed us that there’s nothing more familiar than the traditional 3 minute TV spot break. So, we set about creating a contextual experience within these spot breaks in order to introduce Bing, and give the viewer something they had never seen before.

It was time for all things traditional to step aside, and make way for the 'Bing Break'.

Creative Execution
Abandoning every norm, the Bing Break would run a search query (as live) prior to every advertisement during a Channel 4 ad break. The following ad would then be the answer to the preceding search query.

For example, prior to insurance brand Confused.com’s ad, Bing searched for "cheap car insurance”.
Bing was creating an intelligent link between one advertiser on TV and another – displaying the search engine’s unique credentials, and changing people's default search behaviour.

We even had search terms leading back to the programme, and we made sure all of our searches actually worked in real life – no easy feat, as any search professional will tell you!

It was the first time anything like this had been tried globally. It was also an extraordinary example of collaboration, involving over 10 clients, 4 competitor media agencies, 9 creative agencies, 1 innovative TV station and 7 planners/buyers.